Company Profile

Sunesis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of novel small molecule therapeutics for oncology and other unmet medical needs. We have built our product candidate portfolio through internal discovery and the in-licensing of novel cancer therapeutics. We are advancing our product candidates through in-house research and development efforts and strategic collaborations with leading pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical companies. We believe the quality and breadth of our product candidate pipeline, platform technology, strategic collaborations and scientific team will enable us to become a fully integrated biopharmaceutical company with a diversified portfolio of novel therapeutics for major diseases.

We are advancing three proprietary oncology product candidates, SNS-595, SNS-032 and SNS-314, through in-house research and development efforts. All three are inhibitors of the cell division process, known as cell-cycle inhibitors, intended for the treatment of cancer. Our lead product candidate, SNS-595, is a novel cytotoxic. Sunesis is currently conducting three Phase 2 clinical trials with its lead product candidate, SNS-595 in non-small-cell lung cancer, small-cell lung cancer and ovarian cancer. A Phase 1 clinical trial in patients with advanced acute leukemias is underway; a second Phase 1 trial is being planned with SNS-595 in combination with Ara-C in patients with advanced acute leukemias. A second product being developed clinically is SNS-032, which is in one Phase 1/2 clinical study in patients with advanced solid tumors, and a second Phase 1 is being planned in patients with advanced B-lymphoid malignancies. Sunesis is also developing SNS-314, which is expected to enter Phase 1 clinical trials in early 2007. The company holds worldwide development and commercialization rights to SNS-595, SNS-032 (for diagnostic and therapeutic applications) and SNS-314, the Aurora kinase inhibitor program.

We have developed a proprietary method of discovering drugs in pieces, or fragments. We call this fragment-based discovery approach ''Tethering®''. Tethering® is a process whereby a target protein known to be involved in a disease process is engineered to facilitate the binding of small drug fragments. Once a small fragment is identified, the fragment is built out using the target protein's surface as a template to make a new full-size therapeutic compound. We combine Tethering® with other drug discovery tools, such as structure-based design and medicinal chemistry, to discover and develop novel therapeutics for major diseases. In addition to its use in our internal drug discovery efforts, Tethering® is the basis of our four strategic collaborations with Biogen Idec, Johnson & Johnson PRD and Merck. Since June 2004, each of our current collaboration partners has either extended its existing collaboration or entered into a new collaboration with our company. We believe that our strategic collaborations will enable us to leverage and expand our internal development capabilities, manage our cash expenditures and diversify risk across our pipeline.